Maravi

Agriculture sector at crossroads, observes Robinson

Agriculture sector at crossroads, observes Robinson
By Chiwoyu Sinyangwe and Nicholas Mwale
Saturday October 11, 2008 [04:00]

THE agriculture sector is on the crossroads, outgoing president of Zambia National Farmers Union (ZNFU) Guy Robinson observed yesterday. And agriculture minister Ben Kapita said the recent reduction in taxes on fuel was a signal of the government’s intention to lower production costs for farmers. Meanwhile, former ZNFU first vice-president Jervis Zimba has been elected the new ZNFU president to replace Robinson.

During the 103rd annual congress of the ZNFU, Robison also urged the government to base its agriculture component of the next budget on recommendations of the action plan by the task force on agriculture.

The task force on agriculture was formed by late president Levy Mwanawasa to address the current global and national food shortages; rising input and food prices and embark on measures to encourage farmers to boost production.

“This work is currently being undertaken and the Union is actively involved. We urge the government to take action plan of the task force very seriously because of the fact that agriculture is on the crossroad,” Robinson said.

He welcomed the recent reduction in the cost of fuel, but further urged the government to remove Value Added Tax on fuel as a way of further pushing down the cost of the commodity, which was a major input in agricultural production.

And Robinson reiterated ZNFU’s frustration with the government’s continued delay in the operationalisation of the Irrigation Development Fund since 2004.

And in a speech read on behalf of Vice-President Rupiah Banda, Kapita said the government would consider other incentives to lower the cost of production for farmers.

Kapita further said the government would embrace regional and global integration with the objective of maximising the benefits that would accrue to the Zambian economy.

“This requires that the bottlenecks that local industries face are addressed before products are exposed to fully-fledged competition from products produced in economies that have been in existence for centuries, have attained economies of scale and enjoy government subsidies,” said Kapita.

“Therefore, all the trade agreements will continue to be examined with a view to reducing unfair competition and ensuring that the government retains the policy space to invoke timely remedy measures when industries come under threat.”

Labels: AGRICULTURE, BEN KAPITA, GUY ROBINSON, JERVIS ZIMBA

posted by MrK @ 4:07 AM